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James O'Brien

Hockey Daily Dose

Highs and Lowes

Kevin Lowe wasn't as important to the dynastic Edmonton Oilers of the 1980's as Wayne Gretzky. He wasn't the steely, terrifying and versatile leader that Mark Messier was. Lowe didn't possess the genius of Paul Coffey, the grace of Jari Kurri, the "clutch factor" of a guy like Glenn Anderson or the Hall of Fame-worthiness of Grant Fuhr.

Still, he was a key part of the Oilers teams, collecting a Stanley Cup ring for every finger on one hand (and then getting started on his other hand via the New York Rangers' 1994 championship). He'd like to remind you of that. I guess it's relevant for me to mention that, too.

Why, you might ask? Well, Mr. Lowe happens to think that's awfully important when you discuss his work as the general manager (oops, I mean general manager turned president) of the modern day Edmonton Oilers.

PRESSING MATTERS

During a hilariously contentious press conference, Lowe announced the firing of GM Steve Tambellini, the promotion of Craig MacTavish to that position (along with the promotion of common punchline victim Scott Howson to MacTavish’s spot) and the notion that his six Stanley Cup rings as a player somehow justifies the comedy of errors he’s presided over in two prominent management positions.

For me, the highlight of the conference came when Lowe tried to cement his brilliance by waxing nostalgic about the Oilers team that was “within a period” of winning a Stanley Cup ... only to be reminded that those events happened seven years ago.

(Really, one could argue that sports teams age almost in dog years, so the fact that he wasn’t even humbled off of his smug perch after that mishap showed how blameless he truly considers himself. Also, that team lived off of Chris Pronger and luck, anyway ... )

The short answer is that it’ll probably be more of a long-term, keeper league concern. Perhaps MacTavish will find a way to boost the rest of the team along with its stars (Tyler Dellow discusses how poorly the team’s second and fourth lines have been playing), which really might mean that the underrated work of Devan Dubnyk might not be as regularly wasted because he might get more frequent goal support. But the development for the team’s slew of prospects - which is hard to gauge - will matter the most.

It’s difficult to shake the perception that promoting guys already within the organization qualifies as “good old boys club” behavior. With that in mind, maybe some of this next bit wears off, but I still think there’s at least a little potential to wring out of it ...

AUDITIONS

Here’s a look at the guys who must be cognizant of the fact that they have precious little time to convince MacTavish to either a) re-sign them (with a big raise!), b) avoid dropping the compliance buyout hammer on them or c) not trade them.*

Sam Gagner - In the simplest terms, the 23-year-old is having the best season of his NHL career. He might just match his typical 40-ish point output in 41 games after taking full seasons (albeit not 82-game ones because of injuries and what not) to do so.

Still, as a pending RFA on a team full of young players who are about to get raises and veterans making too much money, Gagner might be expendable. Either way, he has every motivation to try to convince the Oilers - or someone else - to pay him a ton of money.

Nikolai Khabibulin - The aging goalie is in the last year of that ludicrous deal he received, so he’s fighting for his career. He hasn’t won a game since March 26, so who knows how many chances he’ll get ... unless they want to lose, of course. (Which they kinda should.)

Ryan Whitney - Like “The Bulin Wall,” he’s in desperation mode. Someone in the league is likely to take a chance on him in the summer regardless of his play - his point production will sucker someone - but it’s just a matter of how much of a pay cut he’ll take.

* - Now, don’t get me wrong ... if MacTavish is smart - and more than a few people seem to think he could be - he won’t let a couple weeks of hockey swing too many decisions. Still, you never know, especially with the one-step-forward, two-steps-backward Oilers.

Kevin Lowe wasn't as important to the dynastic Edmonton Oilers of the 1980's as Wayne Gretzky. He wasn't the steely, terrifying and versatile leader that Mark Messier was. Lowe didn't possess the genius of Paul Coffey, the grace of Jari Kurri, the "clutch factor" of a guy like Glenn Anderson or the Hall of Fame-worthiness of Grant Fuhr.

Still, he was a key part of the Oilers teams, collecting a Stanley Cup ring for every finger on one hand (and then getting started on his other hand via the New York Rangers' 1994 championship). He'd like to remind you of that. I guess it's relevant for me to mention that, too.

Why, you might ask? Well, Mr. Lowe happens to think that's awfully important when you discuss his work as the general manager (oops, I mean general manager turned president) of the modern day Edmonton Oilers.

PRESSING MATTERS

During a hilariously contentious press conference, Lowe announced the firing of GM Steve Tambellini, the promotion of Craig MacTavish to that position (along with the promotion of common punchline victim Scott Howson to MacTavish’s spot) and the notion that his six Stanley Cup rings as a player somehow justifies the comedy of errors he’s presided over in two prominent management positions.

For me, the highlight of the conference came when Lowe tried to cement his brilliance by waxing nostalgic about the Oilers team that was “within a period” of winning a Stanley Cup ... only to be reminded that those events happened seven years ago.

(Really, one could argue that sports teams age almost in dog years, so the fact that he wasn’t even humbled off of his smug perch after that mishap showed how blameless he truly considers himself. Also, that team lived off of Chris Pronger and luck, anyway ... )

The short answer is that it’ll probably be more of a long-term, keeper league concern. Perhaps MacTavish will find a way to boost the rest of the team along with its stars (Tyler Dellow discusses how poorly the team’s second and fourth lines have been playing), which really might mean that the underrated work of Devan Dubnyk might not be as regularly wasted because he might get more frequent goal support. But the development for the team’s slew of prospects - which is hard to gauge - will matter the most.

It’s difficult to shake the perception that promoting guys already within the organization qualifies as “good old boys club” behavior. With that in mind, maybe some of this next bit wears off, but I still think there’s at least a little potential to wring out of it ...

AUDITIONS

Here’s a look at the guys who must be cognizant of the fact that they have precious little time to convince MacTavish to either a) re-sign them (with a big raise!), b) avoid dropping the compliance buyout hammer on them or c) not trade them.*

Sam Gagner - In the simplest terms, the 23-year-old is having the best season of his NHL career. He might just match his typical 40-ish point output in 41 games after taking full seasons (albeit not 82-game ones because of injuries and what not) to do so.

Still, as a pending RFA on a team full of young players who are about to get raises and veterans making too much money, Gagner might be expendable. Either way, he has every motivation to try to convince the Oilers - or someone else - to pay him a ton of money.

Nikolai Khabibulin - The aging goalie is in the last year of that ludicrous deal he received, so he’s fighting for his career. He hasn’t won a game since March 26, so who knows how many chances he’ll get ... unless they want to lose, of course. (Which they kinda should.)

Ryan Whitney - Like “The Bulin Wall,” he’s in desperation mode. Someone in the league is likely to take a chance on him in the summer regardless of his play - his point production will sucker someone - but it’s just a matter of how much of a pay cut he’ll take.

* - Now, don’t get me wrong ... if MacTavish is smart - and more than a few people seem to think he could be - he won’t let a couple weeks of hockey swing too many decisions. Still, you never know, especially with the one-step-forward, two-steps-backward Oilers.

CHIASSON OFF/WHITE OUT

One guy who flew under the radar a bit was Alex Chiasson, a guy who unexpectedly ran off a five-game point streak for the Dallas Stars that included six goals and one assist. Simply put, it was pretty hard to see this kind of production coming. When you consider his ridiculous 46.2 percent shooting rate in the early going of his NHL career, it’s clear that his good fortune wasn’t particularly sustainable, either.

Right now, it seems like an upper-body injury (possibly a shoulder ailment?) might do him in before regression gets all mean. He felt the ill effects of a hit against Chicago on Monday and didn’t return.

Transitioning from a guy who mattered for a little bit (at least) to a guy who might not ever matter beyond his potential to injure, Ryan White likely played his final game with the Montreal Canadiens thanks to his reckless hit on Philadelphia Flyers defenseman Kent Huskins.

I’d say the NHL should throw “the book” at them, but I figure that book is a coloring book, and those tend to be pretty light. He probably won’t get the message that way.

(Then again, the league seems to use different “books” for star and filler players, so White might just get hit with an Ayn Rand-sized tome.)

HALF-HEARTED HARTNELL

Be careful about getting sucked in by Scott Hartnell’s hat trick. Since March began, he’s endured big slumps with one-game goal-scoring outputs. First, he went five games before finding the net once on March 13. He went four more before scoring a duo on March 28. Worst yet, he went eight before last night's trio. Truthfully, I’d be tempted to give him a shot, just don’t pencil in points too brashly (aka don’t talk trash on a message board).

I saw a few questions in Monday’s Dose about injured players. Honestly, I’m really concerned about Brad Marchand and Patrice Bergeron’s “indefinite” absences and would lean toward dropping them. James Neal’s a tougher choice because he practiced on Monday (along with Evgeni Malkin and Sidney Crosby). Summation: drop Bergeron and Marchand, flip a coin - for now - with Neal ... Speaking of mystery drop situations, there’s word that there’s at least a chance Ilya Kovalchuk can play on Thursday. Hopefully better than a “Dumber & Dumber” chance ... Thanks to last night’s two-goal output, Jason Pominville has four tallies and two helpers for six points in six games with Minnesota ... James Reimer doesn’t get enough credit in Toronto. He was THE reason they perpetuated the New Jersey Devils’ misery (10 losses in a row) via his 32-save shutout on Monday ... Antti Niemi also added to his strong Vezina argument by making all 35 saves against the Coyotes last night ... Ah, bummer: Marcus Johansson is day-to-day with a lower-body issue ... The Nashville Predators were officially eliminated from the playoffs last night thanks in part to the Derek Roy-Ryan Kesler combo I expressed hopes of seeing. People can debate the merits of that pairing in reality all they want, but there’s serious potential for gold in fantasy terms ... Congrats to Ben Bishop for his two-year extension, even if that saps away some contract year motivation.

(Hopefully it goes without saying, but my thoughts are with anyone affected by the awful events in Boston on Monday. Ideally, you’ll be able to get back to focusing on frivolous things like your fantasy team[s] soon enough.)